Veneficus Fabrica
by Just a Pinch of Thyme
Summary: Harry helps Ginny get over a very abusive marriage she just got out of. And in return she helps him let go of his past, and things he can't control.
1. Chapter One: Divorce

**Chapter One: Divorce**

"Daddy?" asked five-year-old Lexie Potter. 

"Yes, Lexie?" 

"'How come you weren't with me and Queena for a long time? Where did you go?" 

Lexie often had problems speaking, and after months of struggling with her sister's name, had finally deemed her Queena, or Queenie rather than Carina. Harry smoothed a fly-away hair behind Lexie's ear and she popped her thumb in her mouth. 

"Lex, I was here. And you lived with your Mum, but I wanted you here for a while so you and Carina are going to live with me for a while and go to Mum's every other weekend." 

"Daddy?" Carina, who was three, tugged at his robe sleeve. "Mummy live here, okay?" 

Harry felt tears prick the back of his eyes and his voice catch. Why? Why did Cho do this to their family? He _had_ loved her. 

"Mummy lives at her house now, because Mummy and Daddy don't get along anymore." 

As Harry scooped up his daughter she began to cry. " I m-miss Mu-Mummy!" she sobbed into Harry's robes. Harry ground his teeth. As he wiped Carina's tears with his robe sleeve he muttered to her,"Shhh...it's okay...Shhhhh... Everything will be fine," The clock above the fireplace chimed 8 pm. "Girls, it's time to get ready for bed, and it's bath time." Harry set Carina down. 

"Daddy, Mummy always picks us up and takes us to the bathroom!" Lexie said impatiently. 

Harry sighed, and picked them both up. "Better?" he asked, and to his relief Lexie nodded. 

Once in the bathroom, Harry ran the bath water and began dumping the bath toys in the tub. 

"Mummy puts the pink bubbles in our bath," Lexie reminded him. "I want pink bubbles." Harry sighed, thinking, _'Not again'_, and promptly began to add pink bubbles. 

"Daddy, where is my dragon toy?" asked Carina, who was on her tip toes, peering at the bath toys. 

Harry looked at the toys as well; no dragon ones were floating in the water. 

"Daddy, Mummy always charms the bubble to change colors, and to smell like roses!" Lexie complained. Left and right the girls had him doing spells. Pretty soon the water was changing colors every ten seconds, the bubbles changing colors and sizes, and Harry had transfigured a second Oliver Wood action figure to a dragon after Carina looked close to tears again. He certainly couldn't remember Cho having these difficulties. 

"Daddy, Mummy always washed my hair with the violet shampoo." Harry began washing Lexie's jet-black hair. "And she makes it into shapes!" Harry tried to do this. He really did. But, as Hermione would often point out to him, he was artistically challenged. After a while he asked awkwardly, "Does a pot thing count?" 

"Daddy, my hair now," said Carina as she splashed Harry with the now pink water. And Harry promptly began washing Carina's hair, after she pointed at the rose shampoo. 

Lexie began splashing Harry. "Daddy, can we play a game?" 

"What kind of game?" Harry asked rinsing the shampoo out of Carina's hair. 

"Let's have bath time like you!" Lexie exclaimed jumping up. 

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean?" Harry questioned, looking at the five year old who was standing up, dripping in bubble bath, "Lexie, sit down, you'll hurt yourself." 

"Standing up, with water coming down on us," Lexie replied, sitting back down. 

"What?" 

"And we have to sing!" Lexie added, splashing her sister. 

"Sing?" asked Carina, looking up from her dragon toy. 

"Lexie, that's kind of dangerous. You can't have the toys out, and there will be no bubbles." 

"No bubbles?" asked Carina outraged. "No playing take shower like Daddy. I want bubbles!" 

Harry got the girls out of the bathtub. "Mummy always gives me the blue towel!" Lexie insisted. 

"Okay, bedtime." Harry said quickly. 

"I want to sleep in your bed, Daddy!" whined sitting up in the bed. 

"No, Lexie, you need to sleep in your bed." Harry argued, turning off the light. 

"Daddy," Lexie got out of bed and stomped her foot. "I want to sleep in your bed!" 

"Lexie…." Harry said picking up his daughter and looking her in the eye. 

"Daddy, I want to sleep in your bed! Please?" She gave him puppy dog eyes. 

"All right, fine, but only this once." Harry gave in as he took both her and Carina to his room. 

"Daddy, where is my Kiki?" Carina asked. Kiki was her blanket; she had named it, and she never slept without it. 

"Um, isn't Kiki in your bedroom?" Carina ran to her room, and appeared a little while later. "Kiki ran away! He's not in my room! He's gone!" 

Harry tried not to laugh. "Sweetie, I'm sure he's just under your bed or something." He walked into her room. 

Sure enough, he found the soft, light blue baby blanket under Carina's doll house. How it got there, he had no idea. 

~*~ 

"Mummy always kisses _both_ our cheeks when we go to sleep," Lexie informed him. Harry promptly obeyed. 

"Now Daddy has to go talk to Uncle Ron, okay? Good night." Harry quickly left his room, expecting Lexie to protest, when she didn't, he sighed with relief. 

~*~ 

"And they had the bubbles pink and the water changing color, because that's how Cho did it!" Harry sighed. "Bloody hell, it was a living nightmare." 

Ron Weasley looked sympathetic. "You seem to be holding on to this, Harry. Don't you think it's time to let go? It _has_ been over six months." 

Harry knew he was right. "How are Simon and Claire? And Hermione?" 

Ron and Hermione had two children, seven-year-old Simon and six-year-old Claire. 

"Well, Hermione is well pregnant, with twins. And-" 

"Ron?! Hermione?! Ron!? Anybody!?" cut in a female voice. Ginny Malfoy was beating at the door; it also sounded a lot like she was crying. 'But why would she be at Ron and Hermione's house?' Harry asked himself, After Ginny had married Draco, Ron had stopped talking to her. Despite this, Hermione and Ginny had continued to owl each other sometimes. 

"Ginny? I thought I made it clear that you aren't wel--" Ron stopped in mid- sentence at the appearance of his little sister. Ginny had dark blue bruises on her arms and face, her lip was bleeding, and she had cuts all over her arms and face. "What the bloody hell happened to you?" Ron gasped, goggling. 

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. 

"What? You don't want to know what the hell happened to her?" Ron asked. 

"Yes, Ronald Weasley, I do. But I don't think that it is appropriate that you swear while Damien and Karyssa are present." Hermione pointed at the seven-year-old boy with big brown eyes and blonde hair that was so blonde that it was almost white; he, too, had a few bruises, not as many and not as big. Damien was holding his four-year-old sister's hand; Karyssa had large silver eyes and long flaming red Weasley hair. She also had a bruise on her arm. 

"I had gone to Diagon Alley to get a box for the baby crup. Missy just had a litter and I wanted to show them to my Magical Creatures class. When I came back home Draco was beating Damien and Karyssa," Ginny sobbed. "I told him to stop. It was one thing for him to beat me, but my children? I couldn't live with myself if something happened to either of them." 

Ron surprised everyone by getting up and hugging his baby sister. She was crying and mumbling on and on. 

"That bloody scum-bag! How the hell could he hurt something, something as helpless as children? How? I'm going to kill him, Hermione! I'm going to kill him with my bare hands! How dare he hurt my baby sister and her children, and expect to live!" Ron went on. 

When Ginny continued to cry, Ron asked meanly, "Did he do anything else, Ginny?" 

"No," Ginny said, not meeting Ron's eyes. 

"Ginny, what did he do? Tell me," Ron ordered. 

"Nothing, Ron, he didn't do anything else," Ginny said. 

"Ginny, that's your lying face! What'd he do?" Ron asked again. 

"He used an Unforgivable on, me, alright? Are you _happy_?" Ginny asked angrily. 

Ron turned red in anger, "I thought hell had a better chance of freezing over than him doing something like that. We all know that he's evil, but I wouldn't have thought he was _that_ evil." 

As Harry watched Ron hold his sister, Harry felt awful; here he was sulking about Cho, when Ginny and her kids had bigger problems. 

"Er, Ginny, is there anyway I can help you?" the words left Harry's mouth before he could stop himself. Harry felt all the eyes on him. He was quite positive that he was blushing, "Well, I, er, I mean to say is that I have a cottage by the beach that I don't need, do you, er, want it? It's small but it has three bedrooms, and, er…" Harry was sure he was blushing scarlet now. 

"I would love it, but only if you are sure; I'll pay you rent and everything," Ginny cut him off. Harry was grateful for the interruption. 

Harry waved his hand, "No, Ginny, you don't have to pay rent. Your parents let me stay with you lot all the time; this is so I can pay you all back." Harry said simply. 

"No, Harry, I _will_ pay rent," Ginny said firmly 

Ron, Hermione, Damien and Karyssa were watching this like a tennis match when Ron spoke up, "Ginny, just take it, okay? It's not worth fighting over." Ginny nodded. 

"All right, well I have to go. Ginny, can I take you to the cottage tomorrow afternoon? Say around noon?" Ginny nodded again. 

As Harry turned off the fireplace he grinned to himself, and then realized that he felt like he had while he was at Hogwarts, when he had met Cho. 'Why am I thinking like this? I'm grown up,' Harry thought to himself, 'I am just feeling sorry for her, and helping out a friend's sister,' he told himself firmly as he went up to bed. 

~*~ 

_Authors Note: For those who are wondering; Crup is a wizard dog. It says in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that they resemble jack-terriers except for the forked tails, and that they are a wizard dog .If you want to look it up it's on page 8. Thank you to Kararien who did a wonderful job on beta'ing this!_


	2. Chapter Two: Memeries

**Chapter Two: Memories******

As Harry unlocked the cottage at Zaranka Beach Ginny gasped, just as Cho had. Harry hadn't been there for quite a few months. He sighed inwardly, telling himself that he could do this, he _had_ to do this, for himself, and for Ginny, who needed it.

_"Harry, why can't I know what the surprise is?" asked Cho. She placed her hands over Harry's, which were over her brown eyes. ___

_"Because, Sweetie, then it wouldn't be a surprise," Harry replied as he steered her down the cobblestone path.___

_"Please, just one itty, bitty hint?" Cho begged, a playful smile dancing across her face.___

_"Now, why would I do that?" Harry grinned as he uncovered her eyes in front of a small cottage.___

_The cottage had a stone chimney coming up from the back; the roof and shutters were red. The white trim around the windows could be seen clearly against the yellow exterior of the house.___

_Cho__ gasped. "Do you like it?" asked Harry.___

_"I love it, and you," said Cho with a quick look at her engagement ring, she kissed Harry.___

_Sure_, Harry thought bitterly, as he and Ginny walked into the living room.

"It's gorgeous! Are you sure you want to give it to me?" asked Ginny.

_"Come on, Carina, walk to Mummy," Cho crouched and flung her arms out.___

_"Or to Daddy," Harry said from the other side of Carina, and he too flung his arms out.___

_One year old Carina was standing in the middle of the living room, looking uncertainly at her mother and father on either side of her. She took one wobbly step towards Harry.___

_"Come on, Carina, one more step! You can do it, one more step!" Harry cheered.___

_Carina took one more step, then-___

**_Plump!_****__**

_Carina began to wail, Harry went over and picked up his youngest daughter, his little girl with red fuzz for hair, her bright green eyes swimming with tears.___

"Harry, did you hear me? I asked if you are sure you want to give me this wonderful place, Ginny said, making Harry come back to life.

"Yes," said Harry firmly, "you can also keep all the furniture; I won't be needing it.

"All right, then, I know there isn't a point in arguing with you. Let's go see the kitchen," she responded, and Harry led her into the next room.

_"Harry," asked Cho, Harry's wife of the past six months.___

_"Yes, sweetie?"___

_"I-er-I mean- we- no, I am er- pregnant," Cho stumbled quickly.___

_You could have heard a pin drop in the whole minute it took for Harry to react.___

_"Pregnant?" asked Harry quietly, a small smile spreading across his face.___

_"Yes," Cho said quietly, waiting for Harry's reaction.___

_"Th- that's great!" Harry said, standing up and kissing Cho.___

_"I went to the Mediwitch this morning and she said it's a girl."___

_"And she's going to be a 'Daddy's Little Girl,'" laughed Harry.___

_"You wish," joked Cho, "How about the name Alexis? Or Alexie?"___

_Harry made a face, "Nah, how about Lexie?"___

_Cho__ nodded, "But it's not permanent."___

"Oh, Harry! I love it! You do know, though, that you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I know. I want to. Do you want to live here?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, of course. Oh Harry, I feel safe here. I really do," said Ginny with a flush.

Then she did something unexpected; she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, and he hugged her back. Her hair was soft and smelled of roses. As the hug continued, Harry felt warmth spread through his body. Realizing what was happening, he pulled away and Ginny let go; the feeling disappeared completely. An awkward silence filled the cottage as Harry realized that he'd just hugged Ginny...and liked it. _Really_ liked it.

"Hermione, I just don't know what's going on!" Ginny sighed. Hermione had come over to the cottage for a cup of tea. "One moment we were just talking and the next we were hugging."

Hermione nodded, "Ginny, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but why did you even date Malfoy?"

Ginny sighed, "I thought, that if I did then Harry would make a move, but he didn't. And then at the end of his seventh year, Draco threatened me and my family. He said that if I didn't marry him, he would kill my family and you and Harry." Ginny was crying now, "S- so I did. I didn't want anything happening to any of you."

Hermione got up and wrapped her arms around her friend, "Ginny, I'm sorry, that's terrible," she whispered in her ear.

When Ginny pulled back from her friend she noticed that she looked pinched, as if to be in pain.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked in concern.

"Ginny, get Ron! I think the baby is--_owww__!_--coming! Ahhhh...."

Ron was pacing St. Mungo's floor.

Harry's green eyes were following Ron, "Ron, you act as though you have never been though this!"

"Daddy, is Mummy having the baby?" asked Claire

"Yes, but Mummy is having two babies." Ron explained gently.

"Are you going to forget me like you forgot Simon?" asked Claire, who looked close to tears.

"Sweetie, we didn't forget Simon."

Before Claire could respond a Mediwitch came out of the room, "Mr. Weasley?" Ron nodded, "Your wife is about ready to deliver, she wants you there."

Ron nodded again and left the room.

"Daddy," Lexie asked as she pulled on Harry's robes.

"Yes, sweetie?" Harry asked looking up from _The Daily Prophet.___

"Daddy, when are we going to go see Mummy again?"

Harry cleared his throat, "This weekend, Lexie."

"Why then? How come she isn't here with us?" Lexie asked with a small sigh.

Harry laughed, "Lexie, this isn't twenty questions, all right? And you are going over there next weekend because that's the deal, you live with me and you see her on weekends." Harry explained.

"Daddy, when Christmas?" asked Carina, who was looking at the magical Christmas tree in the hospital lobby.

"In a about two weeks," Harry replied, thankful of someone who wasn't asking difficult questions to answer.

"15 days, Daddy!" exclaimed Lexie, as though her father had committed a crime by not knowing the exact number of days tell Christmas.


End file.
